The Next Generation Utility Latin America (NGU LA) Summit will take place next month in Panama.
Latin America is ripe for solar and other forms of renewable power. Energy demand in the region has increased 35% in the last decade and, despite the current global recession, is currently experiencing an influx of funding from investors.
Summit organizers say that a recent report indicated that Latin America is being electrified to the tune of US$100 billion in power generation projects. They see nuclear and renewable energy as being a major part of the energy mix.
In March, Reuters reported that Argentina was building its first solar energy park in the northwestern province of San Juan.
Mexico has set a goal of 25 percent electricity from clean and renewable sources by 2012, mostly from wind turbines, and Brazil is developing solar, wind and tidal energy projects.
Meanwhile Chile is capitalizing on the enormous solar capacity of the Atacama Desert with the Atacama Solar Platform project. It has the potential to become the world’s largest power generation plant.
Costa Rica already gets 99% of its energy from renewable sources like geothermal, biomass, hydro-electric, solar and wind. The country aims to be the first in the world to be carbon neutral.
"We expect 2010 to be a breakout year for the LA [Latin American] solar industry," says the NGU LA committee, "The right policies and industry innovation continues to drive solar growth across the Americas. Now we're talking gigawatts of solar, not megawatts." – Renewable Energy World
Organizations like Enersol and Euro-Solar are also working on solar rural electrification projects in Latin America from a non-profit community benefit angle. And the Renewable Energy Program for Latin America at New Mexico State University has been working since 1992 to support regional renewable energy development projects in Latin America.
It all adds up to a developing region that is ripe and ready for solar and other forms of renewable energy.
Leslie Berliant writes on the topics of sustainability, the climate crisis, environmental health and corporate social responsibility for publications that include the LOHAS Journal, Sustainablog, Celsias, Personal News Network, the Santa Monica Mirr
Any opinion contained in this article is solely that of the writers, and does not necessarily shapes or reflect the editorial opinions of Energy Boom.
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